The Computational Beauty of Nature
The Computational Beauty of Nature by Gary William Flakeby Gary William Flake
Shares rank 91 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
People recommend it as an inspiring book on generative art, and they especially like owning the physical copy. No recurring criticisms were raised.
People recommend it as an inspiring book on generative art, and they especially like owning the physical copy. No recurring criticisms were raised.
3 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Inspiring for generative art
“It's a wonderful book to own as a physical copy, and the contents are very inspiring for generative art.”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Generative Art over the Years” Good to own as a physical copy
“It's a wonderful book to own as a physical copy, and the contents are very inspiring for generative art.”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Generative Art over the Years” Called a favourite book
“absolute favourite book is The Computational Beauty of Nature”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “A Lisp Interpreter Implemented in Conway's Game of Life (2021)” Includes the book's code
“it's similar and it has the code of the book there”
Comment from 14 Aug 2026 in “Gödel, Escher, Elisp: The Beauty of Macros”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cuckoo's Eggby Cliff Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil Postman | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| The Computational Beauty of Natureby Gary William FlakeThis page | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 3 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it's similar and it has the code of the book there”
“It's a wonderful book to own as a physical copy, and the contents are very inspiring for generative art.”
“absolute favourite book is The Computational Beauty of Nature”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.